Kal-El (Earth-22)
| Eyes = Blue | Hair = Black | UnusualFeatures = None late middle-aged white hair around sides of head | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Widowed | Occupation = Adventurer | Education = | Origin = Born on the doomed planet Krypton he was sent to earth to protect them. | PlaceOfBirth = Krypton | Creators = | First = ''Justice Society'' #9 | HistoryText = The exact history of this Kal-El has not yet been released though is published. Superman entered New Earth through a dimensional portal created inadvertently by Starman when he opened a black hole to stop a raging mystical fire the JSA couldn't contain that was coming from the whole in the chest of the villain Goth. Starman succeeded in creating a black hole and placing Goth inside of it. Goth's powers harmlessly erupted in the black hole causing a rip in the dimension which brought this Kal-El to New Earth. Kal-El was shown to have been greatly depressed as many of the heroes he knew had all died including many of the present members of the JSA like Alan Scott. He attempted to escape from JSA headquarters and exerted his impressive power levels while doing so, including defeating Starman's gravity powers which made Superman ten times heavier than normal. It was soon revealed that his escape was not to run from the JSA, but rather to save a young woman who was attempting suicide. He had heard her mumble about how the "world doesn't need her" from blocks away. Her depth of despair snapped him out of his own feelings of failing and loss with his own response of "Giving up never helped anyone miss, trust me on that." In saving her, he began to save some of his own sense of self. He was last seen returning to the JSA headquarters meeting up with the JSA and Justice League and his own younger counterpart, the Superman of New Earth. Later when dealing with Japanese metahuman assassins trying to kill the new Judomaster, he presently showed he had little or no problem threatening the life of his opponents. Having become more hardened over the years, where as in past he would have removed a villain from causing civilian casualties he has shown he would sooner assault or harm the villain so they could do no harm rather then remove them from the area. Though he did come to a understanding with Power Girl, seeing as how he reminded her of her actual cousin and she reminded him of his that maybe they could be each others family. Power Girl excepted. Later Mr. America brings word of his run in with Gog to the JSA. He then visits Metropolis, While there he can uses his powers to hear the various conversations around the city and his super vision to check for Superman, which leads him to the Daily Planet. While there he almost overwhelmed by the sight of his friends and lois being alive. He then is interrupted by Superman and they talk about Gog and the danger he represents. Superman demonstrated how much more powerful then the New Earth Superman he was. Having picked up a something in Gotham City with his superhearing that New Earth Superman couldn't. Coming to Gotham they both address Hercules who had been fighting Gog, and survived his attack. When New Earth Superman goes to question him Hercules elbows him in the face causing Superman to bleed and then he punches the New Earth Superman who goes flying into a building. When Hercules comes face to face with Earth-22 Superman, he goes to punch him only to find out his attack has no effect at all. Superman plainly smacked him away as if he was nothing. While talking of the coming battle with Gog, the JSA headquarters is attacked by Gog himself holding up a defeated Sand. While the JSA tries to mobilize an attack against him Jakeem Thunder is knocked out before he can summon Thunderbolt to attack, Cyclone is knocked out before she can use her powers to suffocate him. The team is basically at a disadvantage in the dark with only Dr. Mid-Nite seeing where Gog was attacking from, before he and Hourman were knocked out. Finally being attacked by Alan Scott, Flash, Superman, Power Girl, Hawkman, and Wildcat. The fight eventually spills into the street where Power Girl knocks him down and allowing him to drop his staff and Mr. America to pass it off to Mr. Amazing, who absorbs its properties and takes the fight to Gog. When eventually Gog gets the upper hand and he has both Superman and Mr. Amazing at his mercy, only to become confronted by Green Lantern and Obsidian. Background What he has revealed of his own background thus far parallels some of the former Kingdom Come reality in that his wife Lois Lane-Kent was murdered (stabbed through the heart with her own name plate) by the Earth-22 Joker. Superman's past is nothing more then tragedy, war and pain, the Joker massacres the staff of the Daily Planet, killing (among others) Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Lois Lane-Kent (whom he stabbed through the heart with her own name plate). Still believing in justice Superman doesn't take out his anger on the Joker, instead arresting him. But as the Joker arrives for his trial, he is killed by a new superhero named Magog. In an instance of Jury nullification, Magog is acquitted for his cold-blooded act and Superman is appalled by the public embracing a killer as a hero (it is implied in the story that the public had grown weary of 'do-gooder' superheroes whose refusal to kill allowed supervillains to terrorize the populace over and over again once they escaped or were paroled). Already disheartened at the death of his wife, Kal-El abandons his life as Superman, retreating to his Fortress of Solitude where he will spend the next decade, failing to realize his importance as a constant inspiration/role model to other heroes. Other heroes, equally disturbed at the publics overwhelmingly positive reaction to Magog's actions, withdraw from the world at large, leaving a power vacuum that is soon filled by the new generation of "heroes" Magog represents. Without the moral compass provided by Superman and his generation, there is little or no distinction between 'heroes' and 'villains'. Metahumans battle openly in the streets without true cause, or concern for collateral damage or innocent passers-by. Average humans, demoralized by the loss of their true heroes, the disregard that the new generation shows for them, and their inability to do anything about the state of affairs created by these metahumans, have fallen into a societal depression. Efforts that celebrate human achievement, like professional sports, the Olympics, and Nobel Prizes, have been abandoned. Certain heroes like the Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern and Batman have remained active, although their methods have changed dramatically, all of them becoming more distant from humanity. Hawkman, now an anthropomorphized hawk, has become an eco-terrorist. Batman, now an old man who relies on a metal exo-suit to support his broken body, enforces the rule of law in Gotham City with an army of remotely controlled bat-like androids. The Flash has become permanently hyper-accelerated, patrolling Keystone city at speeds so fast that he seems to be everywhere at once, but can no longer be seen or heard by human beings. Green Lantern lives alone in a huge orbiting space station, ready to defend the Earth against an extraterrestrial threat that may never appear. The dark state of the world comes to a head when the Justice Battalion, led by Magog, attacks the Parasite with excessive and unnecessary force — they refuse his offers to surrender and deny his pleas for mercy. Parasite panics and tears open Captain Atom, releasing his nuclear energies and irradiating the entire state of Kansas and parts of the surrounding states, taking out a large portion of America's food production. Second Coming of Superman Coaxed back into action by Wonder Woman, Superman decides to return to Metropolis and re-form the Justice League following the Kansas disaster. The yellow aspects of his costume replaced by black as a badge of mourning for those lost in the Kansas disaster, Superman intends to enforce morality upon the runaway metahumanity by offering them a choice: join his League and abide by a code of ethics, or be made a prisoner by it. He manages to collect former heroes (including Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman, and Dick Grayson, now known as Red Robin, among others) and reformed "new heroes," such as Avia (Mr. Miracle and Big Barda's daughter), but Batman, one of the most prominent of the old guard, refuses to join Superman's crusade. Batman believes Superman's idealist notions are outdated and that his interference will only exacerbate the problem. He interprets Superman's plan as an example of the strong exerting their will upon the weak, something to which he will not be party to. He instead begins to organize a third group of heroes, made up largely of non-powered heroes like Green Arrow and the Blue Beetle, as well as second and third generation heroes like Jade, daughter of the first Green Lantern, and Zatara, son of Zatanna and grandson of the first generation hero whose name he shares. Lex Luthor is still alive and well, and has organized the Mankind Liberation Front. The MLF is primarily a group of Silver Age Justice League villains, including Batman foes Catwoman and the Riddler; Vandal Savage; King, leader of the Royal Flush Gang, as well as third generation villains like Ra's al Ghul's successor, Ibn al Xu'ffasch, who is Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul's son, although their relationship is understandably strained. The MLF work to wrest control of the world away from the heroes. Luthor's group also have an ace in the hole, a man the Spectre calls "the captain of the lightning and the thunder." Luthor captured Captain Marvel years earlier, and has been controlling him through the use of worms that affect Marvel's brain. The worms play upon the psychological dichotomy of the teen Batson inhabiting the adult body of the world's mightiest mortal, Captain Marvel, and resemble Mr. Mind, Marvel's nemesis. Batman and his group ally themselves with Luthor's group, to better protect mankind during the impending metahuman war. Superman's Justice League gathers more captives than converts, and his requests to build a prison safely away from humanity are refused by both Aquaman, who wants no part of the coming war to reach his undersea kingdom and Orion, who has wrested control of Apokolips from his father Darkseid, and sees the inherent flaws and inevitable collapse in Superman's plan. Superman and the League end up building the Gulag, a massive penal colony in the Kansas wastelands; security for the Gulag is designed by Scott Free, the universe's ultimate escape artist. The prison is filled to capacity almost as soon as it is built. Superman designates Captain Comet as warden and works to persuade the inmates that their methods are wrong-headed and dangerous, but his entreaties fall upon deaf ears. With hostile hero-villains like 666, Kabuki Kommando, and Von Bach locked up together, pressure builds. Meanwhile, Superman, urged on by Wonder Woman, reacts with increasing inflexibility towards the inappropriate behavior of the metahuman community. He learns that Wonder Woman's ardent militant stance may be influenced by her recent exile from Paradise Island: in the eyes of the Amazons, her mission to bring peace to the outside world has failed. Pact Batman and his cadre of heroes turn the tables on Luthor and the MLF. Luthor has revealed his plan to exacerbate the conflict between the League and the inmates by pitting Captain Marvel against the League, the Gulag and Superman: the ensuing chaos will afford Luthor an opportunity to seize power. Assisted by the Martian Manhunter, Batman discovers that an adult Billy Batson is under the villains' control. Batson, who becomes Captain Marvel when he utters the word "Shazam!", is the one being capable of matching Superman's power. When the Gulag's inmates riot, killing Captain Comet, Batman's forces ambush Luthor and his conspirators. Batman is unable to restrain the brain-washed Batson, who transforms into Marvel and flies to Kansas. He opens the Gulag and unleashes chaos. After Captain Comet's murder, Wonder Woman convinces the members of the League to use deadly force to deal with the inmates of the Gulag; Superman still objects. The Justice League clash with the bloodthirsty inmates, and Superman finds Batman and forces him to recognize that they may very well be facing the end of the world. Superman knows that Batman will act, because his entire crime-fighting life is based upon the desire to prevent the loss of human life. Upon arriving at the Gulag, Superman and Captain Marvel battle. It is in this battle the Superman is punched by Captain Marvel and goes flying through a dimensional portal created at the time of the Infinite Crisis by the battling Nabu and Mordru. Sometime later he came to New Earth through a Black Hole created by Starman. | Powers = Kryptonian Physiology: Superman's cellular structure is more dense, resilient and biologically more effective than human tissue. Strangely enough, he does not seem to possess superhuman strength levels despite his enhanced cellular ability without constant exposure to yellow solar energy. Without such charging, his strength seems on par for a human of his height and weight who engages in regular physical activity. As an alien he possess several organs whose functions are not yet disclosed or understood but are believed to be part of and perhaps even the source of his biomatrix force field and reclamation aura. Superman's body also stores energy actively within his bio-cellular matrix as an energy pattern that is linked to his body's electromagnetic field. This energy powers most of Superman's electromagnetic capabilities such as flight and heat vision. It also supplements his physical strength by a factor of 12,000 times or so. :Solar Energy Absorption: Technically, this is the main source of Superman's powers. Because Superman's powers are greatly due to exposure to Earth's yellow sun, his powers have been affected by extreme absorptions of solar power, whether voluntary or involuntary. ::Superhuman Strength: While the exact magnitude of Superman's strength is unknown, it is generally accepted that Superman is sufficiently strong to lift 100,000 tons and more. The exact specific range is unknown as Superman's strength, like his other powers, has fluctuated over time. Superman's strength is more an act of conscious will on energy fields than actual physical strength. It is through his act of conscious will manipulation that allows Superman to engage in physical feats that are beyond merely applying applicable force such as moving a mountain top without said rock crumbling under its own mass while Superman moves it. Superman's normal strength levels are easily in the multi-megaton range. ::Invulnerability: Superman's body is nigh-invulnerable to extreme energy forces (Has survived low yield nuclear explosions where he was in direct contact with a ten megaton detonation bomb). In addition, his immune system protects him from toxins and diseases. The most common explanations for his invulnerability are Superman having a super-dense molecular structure and/or a supercharged bioelectric "aura" which acts as an invisible "force field" around his body within a few millimeters from his skin, and presumably within his body as well. The proximity of this field to his skin means that loose clothes, for example, may be burned off of him, while cloth that is close to his body is protected by the "aura;" This phenomenon is sometimes cited as Superman's reason for wearing a skin-tight bodysuit. It is this understanding which is assumed for him being able to carrying and move objects that would collapse under their own mass, overcoming gravity or inertia tearing them apart around his human-sized hands. Superman is at "the height of his invulnerability" due to his prolonged exposure to sunlight. ::Superhuman Stamina: Superman has the ability to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for an undefined period. Theoretically, most incarnations of the character has unlimited stamina as his enhanced nourishment is produced from the solar energy his cells process; however his base physical structure still does need to process food stuffs as well as has the psychological need to eat and drink just as Earth humans do, despite the fact that his superhuman powers receives the majority of that power from a yellow sun. He does require sleep on occasion so he can dream. He can also hold his breath for an undefined duration. ::Flight: Superman is able to manipulate psionically, graviton particles, in an unknown and apparently unconscious manner, to defy the forces of gravity. Under one Earth gravity, Superman is capable of speeds of multi Mach speeds in Earth's atmosphere and even light speed in space. His control of his flight is very precise and he can perform aerobatic feats such as hovering, flying backwards and even lifting great weights while flying. Superman has repeatedly demonstrated he has the ability to fly in outer space and land safely down to planet surface from outer space. ::Superhuman Speed: Superman is capable of enhanced reflex action and the ability to move at incredible speeds by sheer force of will. He is not as fast as the Flash, but he can achieve faster than light speed under his own power in space ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' #48. Superman can match most other speedsters in their ability to perform super-fast movements, reactions, and processes. He can use this power to disarm opponents without heightened reflexes, catch bullets or shrapnel or cross vast distances in seconds. ::Super-Breath: The ability to create hurricane force winds by blowing, and to chill his breath in order to freeze a target (this latter ability has also been called "freeze breath" and "arctic breath"). Superman can also breathe in large amounts of air, an ability used when dealing with and disposing things like clouds of poison gas. ::Super Hearing: The ability to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. The only Earth creature who can detect sounds at the frequency he can is a blue whale (0.01-200,000 Hz). He has shown enough control to block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source/frequency. He can identify a person by their heartbeat, or pick out a single voice in an entire city. ::Heat Vision: The ability to fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it with the conscious act of activating this power. Visually, the power is typically depicted as two beams of red light firing from his eyes. These beams can be made invisible, allowing Superman to work undetected. The maximum temperature of his heat vision is said to be around that of a nuclear detonation. The area of effect can be consciously determined by Superman, down to the microscopic level. Recent stories imply the precision is so exact it can bypass a target's outer shell (not causing damage to a person's skull for surgical purposes) or even defenses (such as invulnerability or intangibility). ::Super Vision: He also possess a superior sensory arrangement of microscopic, telescopic, infrared and ultraviolet visual capabilities. He is able to see the entire spectrum. Microscopic, chemical, x-ray, auditory, ultrasonic, magnetic, photonic, etc. Star Laboratories has not been able to complete define how Superman has been able to utilize his powerful senses, part of the mechanism is physical, part of it is believed to be psionic in nature. Abilities include: :::*''Electro-magnetic Spectrum Vision: can see well into most of the EM Spectrum. He can see and identify radio/television and any and all broadcast/transmitted frequencies, allowing him to avoid detection through radar or satellite monitoring methods. Superman can see the paranormal aura that every living thing generates. This ability is apparently one of the main reasons that Superman is a vegetarian, as he can see the passing of the "soul" at death. :::*Telescopic Vision: The ability to "zoom in" his distance to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics. The total telescopic ability is unprecedented, but limited to some extent. :::*X-Ray Vision: The ability to see through anything except lead. He can see things behind a wall as if the wall were not there, or can "peel back" layer after layer of matter in his mind. Opponents sometimes used lead-lined constructs in an attempt to hide things from Superman. Kal-El is able to focus his vision past layers of matter, literally seeing "through" them -- possibly perceiving x-rays, cosmic rays or other forms of energy invisible to normal human vision which pass through Earth's atmosphere (and solid objects) after emission from stars. Since it is passive, this ability would not generate harmful radiation in the same manner as a focused projection of hard X-rays. :::*Microscopic Vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level (normal optical microscopes can only see objects down to the size of chromosomes). :::*Infrared Vision: Allows him to see better in total darkness :::*Chemical Vision'' :::*''Auditory Vision'' :::*''Ultrasonic Vision'' :::*''Magnetic Vision'' :::*''Photonic Vision'' Magic Immunity: Normally Superman is also vulnerable to magical effects. Although he is no more detrimentally affected by such effects than a normal human would be, this is a significantly exploitable weakness in comparison to his incredible physical resilience. Though due to being exposed to concentrated high level magical lighting due to attack by Captain Marvel he has become amazingly unaffected by magic. Kryptonite Resistance: though naturally weakened to the point of death by the radiation producing mineral rock from his destroyed homeworld, though due to prolonged exposure to sunlight allowing for increased invulnerability he has developed a resistance to the effects of kryptonite. How far this resistance goes has not been seen. | Abilities = Expert Combatant: Superman has been trained in the art of Boxing by Wildcat, wrestling by Wonder Woman, and underwater/ space combat by Mongul. Genius-Level Intellect: Superman has shown enhanced intelligence and computational abilities; his mind works sharply and with extreme speed. His analytical powers are impressive — he is able to use his senses to read information directly from machines (and, with careful usage of his heat vision, he can even reprogram machines). He also posseses a photographic memory which means he has total recall. | Strength = Presently undetermined; though appear to be similar to the levels of Kal-L the Earth-Two Superman rather than the mainstream Superman. | Weaknesses = Psionics Solar Energy | Equipment = None | Transportation = None | Weapons = None known | Notes = This incarnation is not the exact Superman who appears in the Kingdom Come series but like that of the many similar aged and powered Supermen, who are all killed at the hands of Gog. | Trivia = * This incarnation of Superman is briefly mistaken for the dead Earth-Two Kal-L, though most of the JSA members immediately recognize that he is not the same man. * While some say he looks very close to Kal-L, this Kal-El is younger than the Earth-Two Kal-L as his hair is only white at the temples and not all around his head and far less aging in his face, suggesting that he is approximately 50ish rather than the early 70ish age of the Earth-Two Superman. * The Earth-22 Superman was older than the Kingdom Come Superman as he already had grey hair before his wife was killed by the Earth-22 Joker and wore his hair in a ponytail. * Unlike the true Kingdom Come Superman it was stated to have been less than ten years from the time his wife was killed to the current time where the true Kingdom Come Superman retreated for fifteen years before being active as a hero again. * Unlike the true Kingdom Come universe which happened in the future, Starman states that this Superman is natural to the current time frame though on a different reality. "The future Wildcat? That's where I come from. Not him (referring to Earth-22 Kal-L)." | Links = }} Category:Aliens Category:Kryptonian Category:Modern Age Category:Priority Copy Edit Category:Earth-22 Category:Vulnerability to Kryptonite Category:Vulnerability to Magic